ALIEN:

Obviously, the first two films are the best. I enjoy Scott's vision the most out of all of them, and I think a rather huge chunk of that is due to H.R. Giger's direct involvement. Alien is a classic. The film has completely withstood time and does not appear dated at all. The f/x still stand up and never appear cheesy. The acting is class-A, the script is tight and simple, and the camera work is mighty.

ALIENS:

Aliens is a fun movie, definitely one of the best action films ever made. Not particularly scary or artistic, but great balls-to-the-wall action, and lots of good development on the aliens' life cycle. Some good, if somewhat cardboard, characters that we do not feel guilty for caring about. Virtually all of Bill Paxton's dialog is eminently quotable.

ALIEN3:

The third film is not bad at all, but definitely could have been better. Maybe if they had a script while shooting, maybe if they had SOMETHING finished before they settled on a release date, etc. I still like the film. Fincher's stylistic choices are sound, and the acting is actually quite good, especially Charles Dance (the only "nice" guy on Fury 161). Alien3 is not to be dismissed and it's good that it seems to be getting a little credit after 10+ years. Too bad some of the f/x just plain suck, and even the guys who did them admit it. The longer cut that is available for the first time in this set helps the film a little. Some of the nearly-interchangable characters are fleshed out, although they still lack "identity." And the movie's nihilistic bent is still intact, it would not have been a totally lame place to end the franchise for good. BUT...

ALIEN RESURRECTION:

Alien Resurrection I liked as soon as I saw it. I like the characters, I like the set design and the lighting/camera work is great (as is the case with every film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet), even the plot is okay by me. Michael Wincott is Hollywood's most underused actor. That dude's got a style all his own. I wonder if Quentin Tarantino has ever thought of using him? Dominique Pinon and Ron Perlman are always entertaining (everyone needs to see a Mexican film called Cronos, Perlman is great in it). I am no fan of Winona Ryder, but I even liked her in this. She comes off as... the cuddliest android ever. I want to have ice cream with her underneath a nice tree on the top of a sunny hill somewhere in Spain.
Of course, a lot of people are fine with the film until the "newborn" shows up. And I can understand how that can derail the flick for some, but it does not bother me too much because they have not fucked with the well-established life cycle of the aliens, since this is just a one-off cloning accident. I can buy it. The design of the thing is just plain bizarre, too much so for some people. But, eh, it just does not bother me.

IN CLOSING

Unsolicited opinions on about 30 years of filmmaking. Let us hope they do not totally fuck up Aliens vs. Predator....although I have the feeling that it is going to really, really suck. If it is true to the storyline established in the comics, it might work, but I am pretty sure we will wind up with a lifeless CG video game of a film.

Rating: 4